Newlywed Michael Roberts strangled his wife, Vicky, to death after she discovered he was cheating. The Telegraph reports that after five months of marriage he had conducted two affairs.

But on November 29, a day before he was due to see his mistress, he killed her, Liverpool Crown Court heard. Roberts cheated on his wife before and after they were married, said David Steer QC, prosecuting.

“To many people, and in particular to their respective families, they appeared to be the perfect couple but sadly the reality was altogether different,” said the barrister.

Roberts, who denies murder, began an affair with colleague Kerrie Hall, several months before getting married. The jury of eight men and four women heard that a week after tying the knot he visited her flat and had taken off his wedding ring.

Ms Hall, who knew Roberts was married, told murder squad detectives their relationship was “purely a sexual one” and that he “liked it rough”. She said on occasions Roberts had choked her during sex making her “panic and pull away from him telling him to ‘get off”‘.

In April 2009, two months before his wedding, Roberts met Karen Wilson.  They began an affair and in October they spent the night together at a hotel after a work outing to Chester races. By the end of that month, Mrs Roberts, who was “besotted” with her husband, suspected he was having an affair.

Roberts admits killing his wife but claims her death was accidental during a sex game in which he throttled her.